


Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

by London9Calling



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fantasy, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:39:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5319041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/London9Calling/pseuds/London9Calling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luhan searches for a mystery greater than his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

A creature people should not possibly conceive of. He was something that a rational human being should never, ever believe existed. Yet he stood, the wind whipping around him, staring up at the house on the hill.

He tilted his head to the side, observing. He wondered how he had ever ventured to believe in such a ludicrous story. Yet, wasn’t he proof enough that such things could exist? May exist? The world was a mysterious and unknowable place.

The howling winds mingled with the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below. A nor’easter was moving in – the sky overcast. A heavy grey blanketed the night sky, blocking the light of the full moon. No one was out that night, they would be foolish to venture out of their homes and into the impending storm.

Luhan pulled his cloak tightly around him. He was not deterred, not when he recognized the signs that he was instructed to watch for. The first snow of the season would be upon them soon. If the man existed it would not be long before he was awakened.

Luhan started the long climb up the hill, the rundown estate coming into focus with every step forward. Weeds and brambles covered the lawn. Peeling paint and weatherworn shutters intermingled with broken windows and cracked columns. And the wind, the wind only seemed to pick up as he neared. Luhan supposed he would be nearly frozen by now – if he could feel that is. If he still had blood coursing through his veins. If he were human…

 

 

 

 

The man coughed, swatting the cloud of dust particles away. Closing his eyes tightly he tossed the white sheet near the corner of the drawing room. A low whine made him turn around and fix his eyes on the floor.

“Hush.” Junmyeon placed a finger to his lips. “It isn’t as though you have helped me clean.” The caretaker stared at the hound, warning him not to make another noise. The dog laid his head on the faded oriental carpet. The dog knew better than to continue.

“You feel it too, old boy” Junmyeon whispered as he walked to the scarlet settee. Another pull of fabric and eight months’ worth of dust filled the air. “He is going to awake tonight, mark my word, Sehun.”

The dog watched with worried eyes. Junmyeon went about his work. He had to ensure the house was ready. He had learned long ago not to anger his master.

 

 

 

Luhan slowly traced his finger up the rusted iron railing, pausing, and retracing the feel of the decaying metal. He was close now, so close. He listened, hearing movement inside. They weren’t humans…what were they? An animal, something else. He couldn’t be sure.

The flicker of a candle cast shadows in an upstairs room. He could see the light as he approached, illuminating a figure. Was it him? Was it the man he was searching for? No, surely he would sense that power, that ancient aura he hadn’t encountered in so long. Or would he?

 

 

 

 

The sensation of awakening was something Xiumin never grew accustomed to. His entire body coursed with pain and a burning that made him cry out. Awakening every winter for two thousand years was as horrible as it had been the first time.

“Master! Master!”

The voice was distant yet recognizable. Junmyeon. So he had survived the year. Another noise – Sehun, a low and desperate whine – told him they would be together yet again.

With a gasp his vision began to return to him, the dim and hazy world slowly coming into focus.

“Master!”

He held out his hands, flexing his fingers. “Junmyeon, what year is it?”

“1874, sir.” Junmyeon was near, yet Xiumin’s eyes were not yet able to make out the form of his faithful servant. “You have been asleep for one year.”

“Very good.” Xiumin slung his legs over the side of the bed, his joints cracking as he moved. “The snow is here.”

 

 

 

 

Luhan watched the snowflakes fall. They were coming down hard, blanketing the overgrown lawn in white. The landscape became fresh, born anew as the brambles and brown dried weeds were covered in frost.

A noise tore through the night, louder than the winds, louder than the waves. Screams followed the first snow and Luhan tensed. So it must be true. He must really exist.

It wasn’t difficult to sense where the cries were coming from. It wasn’t difficult to scale the dying manse and enter through the window. It wasn’t difficult until he stared at the creature – an unknowable being who smiled as soon as Luhan entered the room.

Luhan clenched his fists as he stared at the man. He was pale, so very pale. A shock of silver hair and wide, cerulean blue eyes stared back. Wide cheeks and a small mouth made him seem almost youthful, a deceitful appearance. Black trousers and a white dress shirt clung to his thin frame.

“Vampire?” The man waved his hand, gesturing for the other creature – two other creatures in the room to depart. They did so hesitantly, a hound and a man slowly slinking away. “How nice for you to greet me.”

“My pleasure.” Luhan noticed the way he moved closer, so close, so quickly.

“You are the snow prince.” Luhan wasn’t asking. He knew.

“Perhaps.” The creature shrugged. “I have been called many things.”

Luhan smirked. “Haven’t we all.”

“Hm.” The creature tilted his head to the side. It was almost a playful gesture, disarming. “Yet I sense you haven’t been called that many things, _Luhan_.”

Luhan could do nothing more than nod. He was young in comparison to this…thing. This person, this creature of snow and frost. “You know my name, perhaps you know why I have come?”

“Ah, you would suppose I have encountered many of your kind.” The snow prince stalked across the room. He stopped near one of the large windows, the wind coursing in through the shattered glass and rippling his white shirt. Leaning on the windowsill he sighed. A wisp of steam released from his mouth as he did so. It was curious, very curious indeed.

“Have you?” Luhan chanced.

“Yes, here and there. A curious thing...they always want my blood.” The snow prince folded his arms. “Do you want my blood, Luhan?”

“Yes.” There was no sense in hiding it. Xiumin was ancient. He could see right through him.

“Do you know I have given it before, willingly?” Xiumin smiled, a crooked smile. Luhan was lost in those eyes and that smile.

“Why?” Luhan asked quietly.

“Ah, must I explain myself to you?”

“No.”

“Though you must know I will only give if I favor you.” Xiumin’s gaze was intense yet mocking – bearing down on Luhan yet seemingly disinterested. Haughty in all of its superiority.

“Do you favor me?” Luhan asked, narrowing his eyes at the snow prince’s neck. One swift move, one leap forward.

The shock of being dragged twenty feet and slammed into the plaster wall had Luhan gasping for a breath he could not take. That he hadn’t taken in hundreds of years.

“I would almost swear, vampire, that you favor me.” Piercing blue eyes hovered only inches in front of Luhan’s own, offering up a challenge.

Luhan recovered from the shock quickly. He had come looking for the creature after all. He wasn’t going to be conquered so easily. “I do.”

That crooked smile, those piercing blue eyes. A world existed in that gaze. “Do you?”

Luhan took the chance. He reached out and placed his hands on the creature’s waist. The white muslin shirt was coarse against his palms. “Yes.”

A lilting laugh escaped the man. “Then let us make a deal, Luhan.”

 

 

 

 

 

The blue thick liquid ran down his naked chest, pooling slowly on the floor. Luhan drank, sinking his teeth in deeply as Xiumin pushed forward, riding him towards their next release.

Luhan had never felt such ecstasy as he did with the snow prince on top of him, giving while taking.

As dawn threatened Luhan’s world he pulled away, untangling himself from the cold reality of lying with the snow prince.

“There is a cellar, Junmyeon will show you the way.” Xiumin muttered. “It shall be dark enough for you to rest.”

As Luhan reached for his clothes he was dragged back towards the bed. A searing kiss was planted on his lips. He opened his mouth, allowing the assault. It was heady and addicting.

“Sleep well. I shall see you tonight.” Xiumin finally released Luhan, giving him a few minutes for panic to set in as he followed the manservant through the decrepit mansion.

What if it was a trick…what if…what if…?

 

 

 

 

_ One year later _

The screams were surreal, piercing the night. Luhan reached for the snow prince. Junmyeon held Luhan back. “He does not like to be touched right away.”

Luhan tensed as he watched Xiumin writhe and cry out. It had been months since he had been awake, months since they had been together. Since they had shared a bed, shared each other. Luhan wanted – no needed – to feel Xiumin.

Minutes passed before those beautiful blue eyes, eerie in so many ways, showed themselves.

“Luhan?”

“Xiumin.” Luhan wouldn’t let Junmyeon hold him back anymore. The feel of Xiumin’s hand, colder than his own skin, was something he had missed for countless nights. It was a foreign longing that had seized his thoughts for the spring, winter, and autumn. He had experienced countless changings of the seasons. Yet this was different...somehow this was different. 

"What year is it?!" Xiumin gasp.

"1875." Luhan and Junmyeon answered in unison.

A few moments of silence.

“It is good to see you again.” Xiumin smiled, his eyes meeting Luhan's. The snow prince had returned. 

Luhan didn’t regret their arrangement, not after spending months alone. Not after realizing his tenancy in the house had little to do with their haphazard bargain. He may gain strength unimaginable via drinking from Xiumin yet that was not why he stayed. No, he felt something stirring in him that hadn’t occurred in hundreds of years.

Dare he say he loved the snow prince? Dare he admit it?


End file.
